Batman Forever 1995 Film Starring Val Kilmer
Comic Book Batman Faces Double Trouble Against Two-Face and Riddler
Sep 20, 2009
Gotham City’s criminals just don’t get the message that if they conduct their crimes in the Batman’s town then he is going to foil them. Harvey Two-Face and the Riddler join forces in order to bring down the Dark Knight once and for all.
Batman Forever's Plot and Characters
Batman (Val Kilmer) is still waging his war on crime and attempts to stop former District Attorney Harvey ‘Two-Face’ (Tommy Lee Jones) during a hostage situation. Unfortunately despite his efforts Two-Face escapes.
Meanwhile Edward Nigma (Jim Carrey), an employee at Wayne Enterprises, has developed a device that allows signals to be transmitted directly into the human brain. He approaches Bruce Wayne and shares his invention but Wayne rejects the invention telling him that ‘it raises too many questions’ which causes Nigma to resign.
Nigma has become psychologically obsessed with Bruce Wayne and starts leaving him riddles, before transforming himself into the criminal named the Riddler. Nigma seeks out Two-Face so together they can destroy Batman. He uses the invention Wayne rejected to read people’s minds and also make himself more intelligent.
Together Two-Face and Riddler work to uncover the true identity of Batman.
A New Look Bat and New Look Gotham
Joel Schumacher takes over directing duties from Tim Burton and immediately the look of both Batman and Gotham is different. Burton went for a gothic and filthy Gotham, and made his characters as close to ‘real life’ and as human as possible. However, in Batman Forever, the city and all of the characters are larger than life.
Gotham no longer resembles any city and is designed to make it appear as though it has been lifted from the pages of a comic book. The effect of this gives the film a greater appeal (apparently Warner Brothers felt that the previous versions were too violent) to a wider audience but also robs the film of its realism.
Val Kilmer takes over from Michael Keaton as Batman, and in this film he is obsessing about a red book that has something to do with his parents’ death. He seeks help from psychiatrist Dr. Chase Meridian (Nicole Kidman), who is fascinated by the psyche of Batman, and believes that whoever Batman is then he is torturing himself.
Both Alfred Pennyworth and Commissioner Gordon (Michael Gough and Pat Hingle returning to their roles from the previous films) are present as Batman’s allies. However, it is the portrayals of Two-Face and Riddler by Jones and Carrey that makes Batman Forever worth watching.
The presence of both costumed villains is a little excessive and unlike Batman Returns in which the film could deal with having both Penguin and Catwoman and tell both of their stories. Batman Forever would not have suffered if only one of the two villains was portrayed instead of cramming them both in.
During the film Dick Grayson (Chris O’Donnell) is the unfortunate survivor after Two-Face kills his entire family. He eventually discovers who Bruce Wayne is, and decides to become his costumed partner so he can avenge the death of his family. Robin was a child in the comics, but fortunately, he is not portrayed by a child in the film which would have been a step too far.
On the whole Batman Forever is as different from Batman and Batman Returns as it could possibly be. It is the sheer joy and enthusiasm that Jones and Carrey bring to their roles that makes this film a delight. But the fans of the gothic Tim Burton films will not be happy about the fact that Gotham doesn’t look real, the classic Batmobile has been redesigned, and Batman himself is more of a pantomime hero than the tortured hero Keaton portrayed.
7/10
Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey make this film; both are obviously enjoying themselves, and make Batman Forever effectively a live action comic.
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